A United pilot got booted from a flight Saturday night after getting on board in plain clothes and ranting about politics and her divorce. “Being a pilot is a tough and stressful job. This particular pilot did not seem emotionally equipped to do that job today,” Randy Reiss, one of several passengers who stormed off the plane, wrote on Twitter. “I hope that she gets the help she probably needs.” At least half a dozen passengers left the flight, from Austin to San Francisco, because they felt unsafe, witnesses said. Schumer worried more airlines will charge to use overhead bins One passenger posted a clip on YouTube of the high-flying freak out, but later took it down. Part of the video shows the pilot, wearing a cap and a green shirt, acknowledging that some of her passengers are feeling “nervous.” “I’ll stop and we’ll fly the airplane. Don’t worry, I’m gonna let my co-pilot fly it — he’s a man. … [Read more...]

Martellus Bennett after winning Super Bowl 51 on Sunday. Gregory Payan / AP ID: 10502778 Fresh off their win at the Super Bowl, six members of the New England Patriots have backed out of the traditional post-game meeting with President Donald Trump - a sharp new sign of deepening American divisions. Tight end Martellus Bennett was the first player to back out of the meeting at the White House, which is typically held for members of the team that won the Super Bowl. Bennett announced he wouldn't be attending the meeting shortly after the Patriots defeated the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday. The next day, safety Devin McCourty joined Bennett, saying he would not attend the meeting because "I don't feel accepted in the White House." "With the president having so many strong opinions and prejudices I believe certain people might feel accepted there while others won't," he said in an interview with Time. Other team members soon followed: On Wednesday, linebacker Dont'a Hightower said he … [Read more...]

An unidentified female United Airlines pilot was removed from a plane before a flight from Austin to San Francisco Saturday evening. United flight 455 was scheduled to depart Austin–Bergstrom International Airport at 5:02pm but was delayed for more than two hours after the pilot went on what passengers described as a 'rant'. The pilot came into the cabin wearing 'street clothes' and talked to passengers over the intercom about her divorce and the presidential election, passenger Randy Reiss told KVUE. Reiss said the pilot also mentioned that she was going to be on Oprah. Passengers said the pilot called President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton 'a*******'.
A United Airlines pilot was removed from a plane before a flight from Austin to San Francisco Saturday evening for 'ranting about her divorce and the presidential election'
The pilot came into the cabin wearing 'street clothes' and talked to passengers over the intercom about her … [Read more...]

February 11, 2017 —Fake news. Even the feuding President Trump and CNN agree it’s a problem, although they might not see eye to eye on how to define it, let alone fix it. Perceived media inaccuracy and media distrust are swirling into a perfect storm that threatens to undermine the public trust and sow seeds of doubt in the very notion of fact itself. Apple's chief executive officer Tim Cook recently said that fake news is “killing people’s minds,” perhaps signaling Apple’s intention to enter the fray alongside the likes of Facebook and the governments of Ukraine and Germany. But can a lack of faith in online information be restored with a top-down approach? If technology and government oversight represent two fronts in the war on fake news, education is rapidly opening up a third front. A push to teach people to separate fake from real, as well as opinion from fact, might sidestep thorny issues of censorship and institutional distrust. Fake news … [Read more...]

Donald Trump is facing an increasing number of sexual misconduct claims following his attempt to play down a now-infamous "sex boasts" recording from 2005 in which he says he is "automatically attracted to beautiful (women)". "I just start kissing them," he says in it. "It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything." During the second presidential debate, Mr Trump was asked if he had ever grabbed anyone's genitals or kissed them without consent. He replied: "Women have respect for me. And I will tell you: No, I have not." Below is a round-up of some of the allegations against Mr Trump, and his responses to them. Names: Jessica Leeds and Rachel Crooks Image copyright AP Image caption Jessica Leeds - alleged Mr Trump groped her on a plane Claims: Ms Leeds, 74, from Manhattan, says Mr Trump groped her in the early 1980s, when she was sitting beside him in the first-class … [Read more...]

Skye Gould/Business Insider
Pharmacy benefit managers play a critical role in //WHAT?// They have been attracting scrutiny, with some suggesting they’re partly to blame for increasing drug prices.//RIGHT?// The PBMs have come out swinging, making a case for why they are the solution, not the problem.
The drug industry’s largest middlemen are starting to attract scrutiny for their role in drug pricing. Their response: to come out swinging, and point the finger elsewhere.//FAIR?// Pharmacy benefit managers are the companies responsible for negotiating rebates to the prices drugmakers set, and are meant to favour the most effective drug. This is meant to help keep prices low. Many question how effective they are at doing that, however and some have said they could be part of the reason why prices are skyrocketing. //RIGHT? HYPERLINK?// //WHY DO PEOPLE THINK THEY COULD BE TO BLAME? LACK OF TRANSPARENCY?// Right now, there are three big PBMs that cover most of the … [Read more...]

Mike Pence attends a swearing-in ceremony at the Capitol yesterday for Luther Strange, who was appointed to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions as Alabama's senator. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) With Breanne Deppisch THE BIG IDEA: Either the national security adviser misled the vice president, or the vice president knowingly misled the American people. That’s one takeaway from a fresh scoop by three of my colleagues: Contrary to repeated and categorical denials by Trump officials, Michael Flynn privately discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with that country’s ambassador to the United States during the month before President Trump took office. Their sourcing is solid: Nine current and former officials, who were in senior positions at multiple agencies at the time of the calls. “Flynn’s communications with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak were interpreted by some senior U.S. officials as an inappropriate and potentially illegal signal to the Kremlin that it could expect a reprieve … [Read more...]

By Heather Somerville | SAN FRANCISCO SAN FRANCISCO Zenefits is laying off nearly half its staff as the software startup grapples with the fallout of insurance violations that resulted in hefty penalties from state regulators.
The company, which offers free human-resources software to manage benefits and payroll while making its money as an insurance broker, said on Thursday that 430 employees would lose their jobs. That leaves 4-year-old Zenefits with about 500 employees, roughly a third of what it had a year ago. The layoffs are part of a widespread restructuring effort to reduce costs and had been planned by Zenefits' board and previous chief executive officer, according to a company spokeswoman. "This has been planned for some time and is the result of a lot of hard work over the past year to improve our products and service and make the operations of the company more efficient," the spokeswoman said in a statement. Employees were alerted to the layoffs in a memo sent by Jay … [Read more...]

Ivanka Trump's son, Theodore, is growing up in the White House. The 10-month-old has already crawled for the first time on the floors of the famous building, and now he sits on his mother's lap as she takes calls, presumably on behalf of her father Donald Trump. This news comes as her fashion line, from which she has stepped away in order to work for the President with her husband, has been dropped from at least four major retailers. Following the news Nordstrom dropped the line, Belk, ShopStyle and Home Shopping Network followed suit. As of Tuesday, ShopStyle no longer displayed any of the brand's items for sale. The Home Shopping Network confirmed to BuzzFeed that it had removed Ivanka's brand, but that it was not a political decision. A spokesperson said: "At HSN we are non-partisan and our product decisions are based solely on a continual evaluation related to our business". A spokesperson from Belk also told the website that the removal was based on "performance" not … [Read more...]

It's safe to say White House press secretary Sean Spicer is having a bad week. To put the mayo on his turd sandwich, last night people discovered his account on Venmo and started sending him bogus payment requests with trolling messages. Tweet The wave of trolling was kicked off when the celebrity gossip podcast Who? Weeklytweeted that Spicer could be found on Venmo after a listener tipped them off. This isn't the first time the podcast has looked for C-list celebs on the payment app — they also found Bella Thorne and Tiffany Trump. (Full disclosure: I am a friend of the hosts and made one of its theme songs.) A few hours after Spicer's Venmo was trolled, people found Kellyanne Conway's account and did the same. This is all meant to be relatively harmless fun; only a real killjoy wouldn't see the appeal of the weirdness of finding celebrities on a highly plebeian money app. It's funny to find celebrities on Venmo precisely because you wouldn't expect them to be there, and … [Read more...]

DONALD Trump’s so-called ‘Muslim ban’ has caused huge controversy in the president’s first few weeks in office. The billionaire businessman signed an executive order which bars citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries. But a judge effectively suspended the ban after shutting down certain aspects. While the ban has caused protests across America, it has also led to an online petition in the UK which hopes to stop Trump’s state visit to Britain later this year. The success of the petition means that MPs will debate whether the President will be granted a state visit. And it has also emerged that UK airports could help enforce Trump’s controversial ban in future. A spanner was thrown into the Trump works on February 3 however when a judge ruled that the President’s ‘Muslim ban’ was illegal. Let’s cut through the controversy and take a closer look at the order. What is the Donald Trump’s ‘Muslim travel ban’ … [Read more...]

DONALD Trump’s controversial travel ban could be imposed by UK airports after sparking furious protests around the world. The President has signed an executive order which bars citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries. The divisive order also stops refugees from entering the US for the next 120 days. While the ban has caused protests across America, it has also led to an online petition in the UK which hopes to stop Trump’s state visit to Britain later this year. The success of the petition means that MPs will debate whether the President will be granted a state visit. And it has also emerged that UK airports could help enforce Trump’s controversial ban in future. A spanner was thrown into the Trump works on February 3 however when a judge ruled that the President’s ‘Muslim ban’ was illegal. Let’s cut through the controversy and take a closer look at the order. What is the Donald Trump’s ‘Muslim travel ban’ and which … [Read more...]

Gennifer Flowers has not been “formally invited” by the Trump campaign to attend Monday’s first presidential debate, campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said on Sunday, adding: “I can’t believe how easily the Clinton campaign was baited.” In response, Clinton campaign manager Robbie Mook said the Flowers story was “a warning sign about [Trump’s] bullying tactics that make him unfit to be president”. Trump appeared to invite Flowers, who had a sexual liaison with Bill Clinton, on Saturday, in an exchange of tweets with the billionaire Mark Cuban, a Clinton supporter and Trump antagonist who said he had been invited to attend the Hofstra University debate. Flowers subsequently tweeted that she was in Trump’s “corner” and would “definitely be at the debate”. BuzzFeed News reported that her assistant said in an email Flowers would attend and the New York Times reported that Flowers confirmed that in a text … [Read more...]

Gennifer Flowers, a former model who had an extramarital sexual encounter with Bill Clinton in the 1980s, has reportedly accepted an invitation to sit in the front row during Hillary Clinton’s presidential debate with Donald Trump on Monday night. Flowers herself appeared to confirm the report on Saturday, writing on Twitter: “Hi Donald. You know I’m in your corner and will definitely be at the debate!” Nine years earlier, however, Flowers said she would support Hillary Clinton in her first presidential campaign. Speaking in 2007, Flowers said: “I can’t help but want to support my own gender.” She added: “I don’t have any interest whatsoever in getting back out there and bashing Hillary Clinton.” Her reported invitation to watch Trump do so in 2016 appeared to have its roots in a feud between the Republican candidate and Mark Cuban, a politically outspoken billionaire who has questioned Trump’s boasted worth. On … [Read more...]

Donald Trump brushed off leaked emails from Colin Powell calling him a "national disgrace" with a tweet late Wednesday dismissing the former secretary of state's credibility. I was never a fan of Colin Powell after his weak understanding of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq = disaster. We can do much better!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2016 The contents of the emails were first reported by Buzzfeed News. It said the messages had been obtained by the website DCLeaks.com, which a federal law official told NBC News is believed to have ties to Russian intelligence services. In one email, the former secretary of state called Trump a "national disgrace" and "international pariah" — adding that the GOP presidential contender was "in the process of destroying himself, no need for Dems to attack him." The self-described lifelong Republican also slammed Trump for spurring the "racist" so-called "birther" movement — the consistently debunked … [Read more...]

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell blasted Donald Trump as a "national disgrace" and criticized repeated investigations into the 2012 attack in Benghazi as a "witch hunt" in personal emails leaked online by hackers. Powell, a retired 4-star general and a Republican, confirmed the authenticity of the emails to NBC News. "The hackers have a lot more," he added. The contents of the emails were first reported by Buzzfeed News. It said the messages had been obtained by the website DCLeaks.com, which a federal law official told NBC News is believed to have ties to Russian intelligence services. Powell called Trump a "national disgrace" and "international pariah" in a June 17 email to a former aide, saying the Republican presidential contender was "in the process of destroying himself, no need for Dems to attack him." A subsequent email to the same former aide on Aug. 21 slammed Trump for spurring the "racist" so-called "birther" movement — the consistently debunked rumor … [Read more...]

Digital media company BuzzFeed is splitting into two distinct units — news and entertainment — in similar fashion to the move made a couple of years ago by old media organisation News Corp. BuzzFeed’s founder and chief executive, Jonah Peretti, sent staff a memo saying that “having a single ‘video department’ in 2016 makes about as much sense as having a ‘mobile department.’” The reorganisation will see the creation of a new entity, BuzzFeed Entertainment, led by BuzzFeed Motion Pictures president Ze Frank. It will serve as an umbrella for all its entertainment content, while BuzzFeed News will continue under the leadership of co-founder Ben Smith. Peretti’s memo stated: “We have an opportunity to be the leading entertainment company for the mobile, social age. “And we are in position to build the #1 global news brand for a new generation who consume news differently than their parents, but care passionately … [Read more...]